Michael Kaiser is on record at being surprised at the lack of training opportunities for arts administrators in the UK. He instigated a scheme at the ROH, the Artists' Development Initiative, which serves two purposes. Firstly, young artists and choreographers can use the magnificent space of the Clore Studio Theatre and secondly the events are administrated by ROH performers.

Phillip Mosley (the Billy Elliott model) has been working as an Administrator on 'Cohabitants', which you can read about here:

<A HREF=../../../ubb/Forum4/HTML/000628.html>Cohabitants topic</A>

Bruce Sampson worked on an earlier programme by Tom Sapsford and then has gone on to spend a year at SFB on their administration training programme. The Artists Development Programme is overseen by Deborah Bull and it is clearly a valuable opportunity for her to manage an on-going programme on events.

What's the experience in the States? Is the SFB scheme unusual?

[This message has been edited by Stuart Sweeney (edited January 30, 2001).]

Well, Francis, I finally have an answer for you in regards to Mr Sansom.<P>Sliding stealthily from shadow to shadow within the corridors of the San Francisco Ballet Association Building -- in light of recent comments about San Francisco Ballet performances attributed to me -- I made my way, undetected by the ballet staff and the throng of rabid SFB fans, to the Pointes of View Lecture last night deep within the bowels of the building. The risk was well worth it, as the evening's guest was non-other than Bruce Sansom, former Royal Ballet star and currently a Staff Associate at San Francisco Ballet.<P>Speaking about his one-year tenureship in San Francisco, Sansom acknowledged that while his biggest contribution to the company has been on the artistic side in terms of providing coaching and suggestions, he is however most interested in the administrative side of the house. He is working with every administrative department in the company, learning what it takes to run a tight and successful ballet company, including development, which according to Sansom, is becoming more of a neccessity in the UK.<P>Sansom's reasons for making the change from dancing to administration stems from his desire to take on a new challenge, having felt that he had achieved as much as he could in dancing. This very unique opportunity for an internship at SFB was offered by Artistic Director Helgi Tomasson while Sansom was already in university in his desire to educate himself in areas outside of dancing.<P>I hope SFB's example will spur other ballet companies in the world to offer the same kind of internship to future administrators and directors.<p>[This message has been edited by Azlan (edited March 22, 2001).]

Francis, it was a question I didn't dare ask in a crowded room of SFB balletomanes, knowing that I had quite a distance to cover out to the exit. <P>However, I did note that Sansom did mention it was a <I>one-year</I> situation.

And here's a book that all trainee as well as experienced arts administrators should read:<P> <BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR><B>How Managing the Arts Can Itself Be an Art</B><P>NY Times<P>Following are excerpts from "Putting It Together: Reflections of an Arts Manager," a yet-to-be-published book by Michael M. Kaiser, the president of the Kennedy Center...<HR></BLOCKQUOTE><P><A HREF="http://www.nytimes.com/2001/07/01/arts/SCIOBOX.html?searchpv=nytToday" TARGET=_blank><B>More</B></A>

While we're on the subject, another excellent book:<P>Strategic Board Recruitment : The Not-For-Profit Model<BR>by Robert W. Kile, J. Michael Loscavio<BR> <P><p>[This message has been edited by DavidH (edited July 01, 2001).]

Wanted: managers with time to spare on the arts By Ruth Wishart for The Herald

The latest hotseat has been filled as Richard Findlay was unveiled as the chair of Scotland's first National Theatre. I wish him well and I wish him luck, for that latter commodity will be essential in the matter of retaining his sanity.

Strewth. There's been a revolution under our very noses and they've captured our top jobs. So why are we happy to let our colonial cousins rule Britannia?

"We're spreading across the land like a rash," says Lindsay Sharp. "I'm staggered by the number of us over here."

"Ah, the master race permeates everything," says Lord May.

Sharp is the director of the National Museum of Science and Industry; May is the Royal Society's president, and former chief scientific adviser to the government. Alpha males, then; big cheeses, heavy hitters, head honchos. But hang on a minute — they're also cobbers, sports, swagmen, cork-hatted colonials, convicts. They are, not to put too fine a point on it, Australians.

Meet the UK's top PA Rachel Hollings, who works at the Royal Ballet School in Covent Garden, London, talks to Rosalind Renshaw for The Times.

When Rachel Hollings was growing up, she was mad about ballet and adored music, playing piano and flute to a high standard. Today, as PA at the Royal Ballet School, she is still able to indulge her passions but says she does not hanker for the stage. “I realised early on that I was not going to a ballerina,” she says. “You have to have a vocation for it, but you must also be physically right.

THE arts world was given a £12 million boost from the Treasury to teach its managers business acumen.

Gordon Brown’s surprise announcement will allow arts organisations to train managers to run their businesses with a more expert eye.

The move will give British arts managers the upper hand in an industry that has increasingly sought expertise from abroad. Nine mainstream arts organisations, including the South Bank Centre, the Royal Ballet and the Royal College of Music are run by Australians because there are too few Britons of sufficient calibre.

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